


Gabriel and the Witch

by empressoffire



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canada, Fairy Tale Elements, Magic, Multi, there is death but also there isn't
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2020-07-10 10:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19904182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empressoffire/pseuds/empressoffire
Summary: Once upon a time, in a land far far away, but actually it was Canada and the year 2019, a boy died. And then he didn't.





	1. The Beginning

November 2 2019

The church was quiet. Or maybe it wasn’t, maybe it was full of people sobbing and crying and Jack just couldn’t hear over the ringing in his ears. It was his own voice, shouting Gabe, over and over as the firefighters dragged him from the burning building because Gabel was still in there, the firefighters gripping his arms tight enough to bruise yelling you can’t go back in there and- 

And now Jack was here, sitting in the first pew of this church between Gabriel’s sisters. They were both crying, and he should comfort them, put a hand on their shoulders, but his arms wouldn’t move. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, unblinking. He’d never thought the term “paralyzed with grief” could be so literal, he’d have to let Gabe know so he could include in his shitty (wonderful) emo poetry… 

Except

Jack was pushing open the heavy wooden doors of the church before he even registered what was happening. There was a commotion behind him, his mother yelling his name but he was down the steps, running through the graveyard (with a new grave) and then into the woods beyond.

He ran until he couldn’t breathe anymore, stumbling and falling to his knees. His head was filled with a white static buzzing because Gabe was, Gabe was- and that couldn’t be it couldn’t he could not wake up in a world tomorrow without Gabe in it because that didn’t make any fucking sense 

He reached out a hand, scraping his nails against the gravestone, finding no purchase, the words almost smoothed out of the stone by time. This must have been a graveyard from Ye Olden Days. He’d been to a couple of others, Gabe had had a morbid fascination with death. They’d seen the Titanic graves, gone through graveyards almost reclaimed by the woods, Gabe pointing out every grave with a French last name and asking if they were a relative, it was important that Gabe figure out which graves where Jack’s ancestors, because the spinning they did when they thought of their Anglophone gay descendant could be used to power the whole province, he’d claimed. 

Polite fake coughing yanked him out of his thoughts, causing him to look up. There was a statue in the middle of the graveyard, a giant angle with hands and wings outstretched. Moss ran up and down the sides of the statue and there at the feet, lazily sprawled out like she was on the cover of playboy, feet not touching the ground, was a woman. She was blonde, wearing an honest to god witch’s hat, with what looked like a corset and boots going up to her mid calves. Something about her made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. A broom floated beside her, like a dog waiting to be let off its leash. 

So she was a witch, clearly. Somewhere in the back of his head, the noise started up again. It was different this time, not the white noise of grief, but something old, something that thrummed in his blood. He must have been staring, jaw open like a fool, because the witch pointed to her mouth, then leaned forward with a smile. “Jack Morrison.” 

And then the reality kicked in, because there was a real live witch in front of him and the love of his life had just died, and he’d read books, heard his grandmother’s stories. There was only one reason she could be here. The urge to just yell yes was temporary overwhelming, cost be damned because he needed Gabe back. But Jack had read the fairytales, heard the stories passed down, and it was only that that turned the yes into “What are your terms?” 

The witch’s cheshire cat smile grew, so white and perfect it was unsettling. “Ah. Straight to the point. I do appreciate that.” She stretched, lowering herself down off the sculpture and onto the grassy earth, sauntering over towards him with a familiar ease. “Well, let’s get to it. In return for your servitude, I will return your boyfriend back to life.” 

Well, that sounded way too simple. “What’s the catch?”

And again she flashed that smile. “You trade places. You die in the fire, Gabriel surrives, and then you spend your afterlife serving me, until such time as I feel you’ve repaid your debt.” 

Every single book he’d ever read flashed through his head. This was a bad idea. This was possibly the worst idea ever. There was no universe where making a deal with a weird witch you met in the woods was a good idea. His gut was screaming at him to reject it. If he accepted, he was giving himself up to an entirely of awfulness. 

Except

Gabe would be alive. And yeah, they wouldn’t be able to be together, but he would be alive. He would be happy. It was enough. It was more than enough.

Jack rose, staring the witch dead in the eye as he shook her hand.


	2. Chapter 2

When Gabriel was 18, his boyfriend, his first boyfriend (first kiss, first love, first everything) had died. He’d dragged them both to one of those shitty pop-up Halloween stores because he love(d?) Halloween, one of the many decorations on display had had an electrical problem, it had gone up in flames. It was a freak accident.

Something Gabriel hadn’t know, pre-fire, was that most fire victims didn’t die in the actual fire, but of smoke inhalation. Post fire, he couldn’t forget, because for months after (and still on occasion, if he was being honest), all he could see when he closed his eyes was Jack turning blue on his hospital bed, doctors rushing around, until someone finally pulled the curtain that separated the two parts of the room.

The doctors thought it was cute. Two boyfriends, freshly rescued, in for some oxygen, hospital beds side by side. Like a movie. It was supposed to be a couple nights inpatient, max. Just for oxygen and observation, and they would go home and this would turn into a thrilling story that would look great on scholarship essays. 

Instead, Gabriel had laid there and listened as they tried everything, as it all failed, as they called time of death. 

He didn’t remember the funeral. At the end of it, Jack’s parents had come over and informed Gabriel that they were giving him Jack’s university fund. Between that, his own fund, and the few scholarships he had applied for pre-fire, it had allowed him to get the fuck outta Dodge. Toronto was nice, it had an actual Lantix community, it was easy to get lost in the crowds if that was what you wanted. U of T was great, his profs in the Material Science and International Relations departments were all really approachable and seemed invested in his learning, blah blah blah. 

During the first month of classes, he’d gotten an email from someone in the counseling department. Apparently, there were two other first years with similar circumstances to himself. Like, weirdly similar circumstances. All three were first year students, all recently moved to Toronto, and oh yeah, all had lost their partners in tragic accidents on October 30th. Jesse’s boyfriend had drowned, the balcony Satya’s girlfriend had been on had collapsed. The email had included their names and emails. It seemed like a massive breach of privacy but what did Gabriel know about counseling?

The idea of putting a bunch of grieving teenagers together so they could all relate and “heal together” sounded like a bad YA movie and Gabriel was frankly, insulted to be forced to play any part in it. 

He was even more insulted to admit it had worked. Turns out all that all that counsling blather about peers you could relate to and shit had a point. The friendship had been an unexpected source of strength and comfort, especially on days like today. 

Today was October 31, 2022. They had a plan for anniversaries and other hard days. They would get together, eat comfort food, watch movies, do work (university did not care about your dead boyfriend). It was the together part that mattered, just knowing that you weren’t alone did a lot, actually. Later tonight his moms and Jack’s parents would call, and after Jesse would pass him whiskey or some other horribly tasting strong alcoholic drink and they would talk.   
It was only after the alcohol came out that they would actually start to talk about them. Before, it was anything else, about Satya’s growing rivalry with the man in the apartment next to hers, who like to play electronic dance music, regardless of what time of day it was. Or the professor from the only class they shared, a giant German man who spoke only in shouting.

Gabriel had never met Hanzo or Oliva, but he knew them, in a way. He knew Hanzo liked it when Jesse would run his fingers through his hair (and that his hair was very soft) but pretended not to because it would make his hair messy and he was particular about it, that the family heirloom bow he’d won so many awards with was still locked in its case, because Hanzo had never told anyone the combination, and neither Jesse nor Genji had the heart to break it open. He knew that Oliva was called Sombra by everyone who mattered, a nickname she’d picked up at some point so long ago that no one could even remember where it came from. She’d been a computer genius, the likes of which the world had never seen, apparently, and she still had slept with a teddy bear under her pillow (the teddy bear currently spent most of its time beside the desk where Satya did her drawings, though if Jesse or Gabriel had ever noticed it among Satya’s pillows, they had never said anything). He knew what they both looked like in shitty school photos, and in candid snaps taking by their partners when they weren’t looking. 

And in turn, he had told them about Jack, about how he’d always wanted to be the type of person to watch the stars but slept like the dead, about how his hands had gotten so sweaty during their first date he had dropped his phone, which would have shattered if Gabriel hadn’t caught it in time. He’d shown them awkwardly posed photos of Jack taken from his yearbook, and the snapchats he’d saved to his phone, of Jack with a flower crown or dog ears.

Tonight would be okay. It would be rough, but they’d get through it together. All he had to do was grab the overnight bag he’d packed this morning and then make it to the apartment Jesse and Genji shared. It was bigger than either his or Satya’s, and they had no roommates besides each other. Apparently Genji’s family, absent as they may be, were rich as hell. 

Gabe unlocked his apartment door, stepping inside. His housemates were out at the moment, and so the apartment was actually quiet. He’d barely stepped through the door, just reaching for the phone charger he’d forgotten on the side table in the morning when his phone rang. 

He pulled it out, it was too early for his moms or the Morrisons to call. Seeing Jesse’s name, he pressed accept call and held the phone to his ear. “I’m going to be at your place in like forty minutes, you know that, right?” 

“Gabe.” Jesse said, voice tight with something he had never heard before. “You need to get over here now Genji called a cab it’s coming to your place he’ll pay go it's outside the front door.” He paused for a moment, taking a steadying breath. “You need to get over here right the fuck now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! thank you so much for the comments, i know some people respond to comments, but i'm never sure quite how to respond because honestly my response is to set the electronic aside and do a weird happy dance that involves a lot of hand flapping and squeaky happy noises that freak out my dogs and im not sure how to tell a person that without sounding weird, whereas if i tell a bunch of people without directing that knowledge to anyone, in particular, its different, somehow? thanks brain. anyway sorry what im trying to say is thank you so so much. i hope this chapter doesn't disappoint!


	3. Chapter 3

Gabriel had pressed for details, of course, but Jesse had just kept repeating that he needed to get over there right the fuck now, and he’d hung up in the cab. 

His mind ran through options in the cab, and as he raced up the stairs to the apartment. Someone was dead, Satya was dead, or Genji was or else they’d been horribly injured or it was the robot apocalypse or 

Genji opened the door before he had knocked, waving him in with an unreadable face. This in of itself was worrying, as Genji was normally pretty cheerful. He led Gabriel through the apartment quietly, only pausing when they reached his bedroom door, voice heavy. “Prepare yourself.”

The advice turned out to be absolutely fucking useless. 

Gabriel Reyes felt he was a well rounded human being. He’d been exposed to plenty of different viewpoints, he’d been a boy scout, he could speak two (almost three) languages, he’d traveled with his family all around the world. His grades had and continued to be some of the highest in his classes. He was first aid certified. So, on the whole, he felt that he was normally pretty well prepared for whatever life threw at him. 

He was not prepared to find his dead boyfriend tied to a chair in Genji’s room. 

Jesse sat on Genji’s bed, head in his hands, an open case containing a bow at his feet. Both he and whoever was in the chair looked up when Gabe walked in. “So,” Jesse drawled, because he’d been born and mostly raised in New Mexico and he was not letting anyone forget that, dammit. “I need you to tell me this isn’t what it looks like. Because right now, it looks like your boyfriend has risen from the dead to rob me, and I need you to tell me that isn’t true, that we’ve tied up a stranger and are now in a heap of legal trouble.” 

The boy in the chair, Jack’s long lost twin or clone or whatever, raised his head at last, meeting Gabriel’s eyes. And the look he gave him… Gabriel knew that look. It was the look Jack had given him whenever they were apart for more than 8 hours. It was adoring, love written on every inch of his face and in his blue eyes that Gabriel had definitely written shitty emo poetry about. 

After Jack had died (because Jack was dead, because he’d listened to it happen, he’d seen the body and he knew Jack was dead), he had felt hollow for a long time, like everything inside him had been scraped out and replaced with grief. That’s kind of what he felt like now, but instead of grief it was a mix of confusion and disbelief that filled his whole head with tv static. He must have staggered, because Genji put a hand on his shoulder, leading him to a chair. 

“Fuck.” Jesse looked between them both rapidly, like he was watching an intense tennis match. “I don’t like that look Gabe.” Gabriel couldn’t speak around the blinding white shock, only continue to stare.

The bo-Jack, because it must be Jack but it couldn’t be Jack because people didn’t just come back from the fucking dead, was still staring at him with that expression. Jesse swore loudly again and put his head back in his hands, falling back into stunned silence. 

It was Genji who spoke. “He broke into the apartment, somehow shutting down the security systems. And,” Now he was beginning to sound angry. “The one thing he goes after is my brother’s prized bow, which he somehow unlocks like he’s somehow figured out the fucking password.” Genji knelt by the open case, shaking fingers hovering above the bow. Somewhere in the back of Gabriel’s mind he recalled that Genji’s parents are either dead, or so distant they might as well be dead. “Hanzo was all I had left.” He’d told them once, on one of the very rare occasions he’d joined their informal support group. “He was my family.” 

Genji continued, hands curling into fists as he stood up. “So I am going to need a very good explanation, and I am going to need it right now.” He stalked around the boy in the chair. “Let’s start with how you got the case open.”

The boy didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Would you believe Hanzo told me the combination?” And he even sounded like Jack. 

Genji laughed, as bitter as cooking chocolate. “No. No, I really wouldn’t.” 

“Hanzo’s dead.” That was Jesse, all emotion gone from his voice. “He couldn’t tell you anything.”

The boy nodded, chewing on his tongue as his brain worked. “Yeah. That is true.” 

Gabriel reached out, almost touching the boy’s jaw. He flinched back, apparently no longer willing to look him in the face. “You’re Jack.” He swallowed. “You’re Jack Morrison and I watched them put your body in the ground.” 

“I know,” The boy, fuck, it was Jack, said. “I know, Gabe. I’m sorry.” He was turning towards Gabriel, maybe leaning a bit further than he should have been able to, given he was tied to a chair. 

There was a moment of silence, and then there was the sound of a door opening. “Hello?” Satya called. “Where are you? We agreed to meet here at 5.” She was walking around, by the sound of it, pausing when she reached Genji’s room. “Are you in here? Whatever for?” The door seemed to open in slow motion, every inch of movement like pulling teeth. And then the door was open, and there was Satya, taking in the room, hand raising to her mouth in shock, 

And then Jack was up, snatching up the case and charging at Satya. She stepped to the side at the last minute, while he kept barreling through. Once he had disappeared from view, it was like the spell had worn off, and then everyone was on their feet, yelling and chasing after him.


	4. Chapter 4

“What the hell is going on?” Satya yelled, as the group made its way downstairs. Genji was fastest, leading the charge. 

“Gabe’s dead boyfriend stole my dead boyfriend’s bow.” Jesse hollered back, as they ran down what felt like a thousand flights of stairs but was actually three. Genji seemed to know where they were going, or at the very least appeared to, so they followed him. They rushed out of the building, nearly topping over poor Mrs Lindholm. Down the street they went, rounding the corner straight into an alley.

The alley Genji had lead them to was empty. Completely empty, save for a dumpster and a few piles of trash on the ground, what looked like straw (weird) and a table leg. It was also completely blocked off. Buildings surrounded it on all sides. It would have been impossible to escape. 

And yet, they were definitely the only people there. Everyone slowed, panting. “I still have many questions.” Satya said, quieter now that they weren’t running. Genji had half crawled into the dumpster, digging through more trash, and tossing it to the ground as he went.

“Well, join the fucking club.” Jesse spat, before softing. “Shit, sorry, I’m not mad at you, I just. What the fuck was that?” 

Gabriel could only stare at the brick wall right ahead of him, the ringing in his ears growing louder and louder. Bits of questions floated around his brain, surrounded by the static. They were talking, he knew, he could hear them faintly, trying to make a semblance of fact, stopped by Genji loudly announcing that the bow was gone. 

Jack had said he was sorry. Sorry for dying? Sorry for the theft? Sorry for popping up exactly three years and one day after he died, looking completely healthy and hale? It didn’t make sense. It made so little sense that it didn’t even make sense how little it made sense. 

“We’ve lost him.” That was Genji again, quiet. “He’s gone, and the bow is gone.” He sounded utterly defeated, all prior anger leaking out of him. 

A strong wind blew through the alley. The straw started moving and it was joined by cloth, flying out of pretty much nowhere, and then the table leg, swirling like a dust storm. And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. There was a figure standing there now. It was taller than any of them were, using the table leg as well, a leg. Straw poked out between patches of cloth, and there was a bundle of it on the thing’s head, like a mockery of hair. It’s face was the worst, a burlap sack with two metal eyes and a stitched up mouth, both glowing like metal in the heart of a forge. 

“What. The. Fuck.” Jesse hissed, as the thing turned one of its eyes on them. It made a chattering sound, then knelt down, tracing something on the concrete. “Everyone else is seeing this, right?” 

“Yes. I believe we are.” That was Satya, sounding completely dumbstruck. “I am not sure what we are witnessing, but we are indeed witnessing it.”

The thing stood up again, making the same noise. It almost sounded like a squirrel, if that squirrel had come from the ninth circle of hell. It tapped it’s table leg on the ground once, twice and then the ground fucking opened up into what looked like a magical portal, because why the fuck not, at this point? 

It pointed to them, then to the portal, once, twice, before throwing itself in. It disappeared without a sound. 

This was an absolutely terrible idea. Gabriel had read books. Following a weird nightmare creature through a portal never ended well.

But

Jack was on the other end. He had to be. Because what were the chances that this whole shebang was completely unrelated to the dead taking up breaking and entering? It was the only thing that made sense. 

Gabriel threw himself into the portal without a second thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting is going to continue to be pretty sporadic, as my life is a mess. i really hope you're enjoying this, and thank you again for the comments, they really do make my day.


	5. Chapter 5

Gabriel landed softly on the forest floor. Jesse landed less softly, directly on top of him. The figure watched them sort themselves out, tapping its wooden leg on the ground. 

“What the fuck is this place?” Jesse breathed and then was promptly cut off by Satya falling out of the sky and landing in a heap in front of him. “Oh. Good. Guess we’re all here then.” 

“Wherever here is.” Satya murmured, looking around, wiping the dirt off her otherwise pristine blue dress. They were in a forest taken straight out of a horror movie. The trees were gnarled, growing haphazard out of the ground. The only light came from the full moon (it seemed much brighter than normal) and the glowing facial features of the weird being they’d followed through a magic hole in the ground. Right. That.

It was horrifying, and worst of all, it was familiar. Really familiar. Not vague deja vu, but the mixture of picture-perfect memory and deep fear he normally associated with walking into class only to realize you've forgotten an important assignment at home, even though you went to all the trouble of plastering post-it notes with reminders all around your room. But this time, Gabriel had no idea what it was about. There was no actual memory associated with it, just the fear. 

The figure tapped its wooden leg on the ground again, arms crossed, clearly impatient. It turned and then began ambling down what looked like a path worn out by footsteps. They followed, falling into a line, Gabriel-Jesse-Satya. 

“I know I said this before, but I still have many questions.” Jesse turned to her, filling her in on the scene at the apartment before she had arrived. “Ah. I see.” 

“You sound very calm about all of this.” 

“Well, that is the goal.” Gabriel couldn’t see her, but he imagined that she was looking at Jesse, who was muttering a constant steady drum of different swear words, in English, Spanish, and surprisingly what sounded like Japanese and French. Occasionally he threw a Hindi word in for good measure. Apparently he had been serious when he’d said he had a knack for languages. “Freaking out rarely does any good.” Unsurprisingly, Jesse didn’t seem to listen to her, just kept going with his list of swear words, which had taken on a chant-like quality. 

They walked for another five minutes before the figure stopped. It held a finger to it’s lips, and bent down, tucking itself neatly into the shadows at the base of the trees. They all followed suit, abet less gracefully, 

“Just to recap, you completely blew it.” The speaker was a woman with a Mexican accent, and behind him, Satya took a shaky inhale. 

“I didn’t completely blow it, I got the bow. It’s just I got a little...sidetracked on the way.” And there was Jack. 

When the third voice spoke, a young man with a Japanese accent and a haughty tone, it almost wasn’t a shock anymore. “Just to be clear, you got sidetracked by being wrestled into submission and tied to a chair.” There was a pause, then “Toronto? Are you sure?” 

“I know what Toronto looks like, Jesus Christ.” There was a second of silence, and Gabe could picture Jack rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t like the implications of this.” 

Sombra scoffed, “You think any of us do? Do you think everyone else is sitting here all “wow, it’s super weird that they all met each other, what are the chances?”? The bitch is planning something, and we all know it.” 

In the shadows, Gabe and the others gave each other a worried look. No, it didn’t appear that anyone else knew who Sombra was talking about either. 

The creature, meanwhile, had apparently decided it had heard enough, springing forward. Jesse moved to follow before being cut off by three sets of hands grabbing his serape. Gabriel caught Jesse’s eye. Not yet. 

The arrival of the nightmare creature did not create much of a stir among the assembled dead. “Hello Hayseed. What are you doing out here?” A bout of the chittering followed, punctuated by leg stamps into the dirt. 

“Did Timmy fall down the well again?” Sombra sounded bored. “Look, I don’t know what he’s saying! Why don’t you try and translate?” 

Any further attempts to try and figure out what it was saying were cut off by Jesse wriggling free of their hands and springing upright, and all conversation stopped dead, no pun intended. Gabriel pressed a hand to his face before rising. 

Seeing Jack felt like a punch to the gut. Again. There he was, standing there with that stupid adorable shocked expression on his face, jaw hanging open. Beside him, he knew from the photos, where Hanzo and Sombra, both standing there just as stunned, and just as apparently not dead. The moment hung in the air for what felt like a thousand years, and then Hanzo bolted.

**Author's Note:**

> projecting on characters doesn't count if it's not the focus of the story!


End file.
